Ideas of India Akshay Jaitly on the Making of a Modern Indian Law Firm
Jan 29, 2026
Akshay Jaitly, co-founder of Trilegal and author on building a modern Indian law firm, reflects on founding amid 1990s liberalization. He discusses specialization, delegated legislation and regulatory capture. He explains partnership models, lockstep growth, scaling challenges and how Indian legal practices adapted to new markets and cross-border opportunities.
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Allocate Risk To Whoever Can Control It
- Allocate contract risk to the party best able to control it.
- Put permissions, land and major consents on the government side in public-private contracts.
Delay Can Be A Cheaper Weapon Than Repayment
- Litigation delay sometimes benefits debtors because delay is cheaper than repayment.
- Slow enforcement reduces the practical value of contracts despite formal respect for them.
From City Boxes To A Lockstep System
- Trilegal evolved from separate city balance sheets to a unified lockstep partnership.
- The lockstep awards points that rise with performance and incentivize building others’ practices.
